Niels Bohr urged King Gustaf V of Sweden to announce asylum for Danish Jews in 1943. Bohr had a Jewish mother and was deeply concerned when Nazi plans to arrest and deport Denmark’s Jewish population became known in September that year.
After reaching Sweden with his wife, Bohr resisted pressure to leave immediately for the United States to join wartime scientific work. He insisted that Sweden publicly declare its willingness to receive Danish Jewish refugees. He was granted an audience with Gustaf V, reportedly after Greta Garbo helped secure the meeting, and appealed directly for a public commitment.
According to the account associated with historian Richard Rhodes, Bohr persuaded Gustaf V on September 30. Swedish radio then announced on October 2 that Sweden was prepared to receive the refugees. Historians differ over how decisive Bohr’s intervention was, because Swedish officials had already developed a policy of accepting Danish Jews.
The rescue that followed nevertheless became one of the Holocaust’s most notable collective rescue efforts. Danish citizens and resistance members helped transport roughly 7,500 of Denmark’s approximately 8,000 Jews to neutral Sweden, while hundreds of others were deported to Theresienstadt.